What’s the occasion? Apparently, it’s World Cocktail Week (though that sounds like a flimsy excuse at best).

To celebrate, Merrivale is putting on a whole bunch of cocktail-related masterclasses; evenings focused on a specific spirit where punters get a variety of tastings, several cocktails and some nibbles for about $60.

These include individual masterclasses for Scotch, Gin, Bourbon, Vodka etc. as well as several focused on different aspects of cocktail creation including vintage and tiki cocktails.

Basically, whatever spirits you’re into, you’re pretty much covered.

The venues are all in popular bars around the city, and the drinking festivities are on right now (well, not right now, but tonight for instance…).

So before you decide to head home for a night in front of the telly, think of all that good poison going to waste out there…

I’m probably luckier than most in that I can even slop around all day at work in a comy T (… ahh the tie-less life of being labeled a creative…) and have a cupboard full of various cotton masterpieces.

So when Two Thousand posted a link to the Print Liberation online shop yesterday, while I had heard of them before, I hadn’t really poked around all the options they have on their shop.

Namely, the one-of-a-kind section.

How awesome is that? If there’s one thing I truly hate it’s wearing something I know someone else has. Seeing someone on the street in a t-shirt I’ve got at home (or even worse, which I happen to be wearing) for some reason makes my skin crawl, and suddenly, there’s a way out.

During the screen-printing process (my dad used to a bit of moonlighting as a screen-printer, so I’m not making this next bit up) you generally have to try out your screens and dyes on something before you start hitting the real thing, and generally make a mess of whatever your test print thingy happens to be. (Please excuse my heavy use of such highly technical jargon.)

Normally this stuff would find its way to the bin pretty soon after, but the good capitalists at Print Liberation can see the dollar signs in their potential wastage.

These one-of-a-kind testers can be bought for less than the price of some of their other options, but for my money, you’re getting something a lot more unique. Some of the examples on the site show several different colours of several different snappy designs all mashed in and overlapped in a confusing jumble; chaotic, yes, but the randomness makes it design-good to my eye.

More importantly, there is absolutely no chance that you’ll ever see someone wearing the exact same shirt as you, ever.

A lot of their designs range from political jabs, general bold statements, random huge words or objects, or retro-looking old photos. The combination possibilities are endless.

The only gamble is that you can’t pick exactly what you get; they just send you something. You can limit them to the colour of the shirt, but even then you can go completely lucky-dip about it and ask for a random shirt colour as well.

I’m all for that option, knowing that forever I can walk down busy George Street on a Friday arvo and never, ever run into a dude in the same top, ever again.

With television like Underbelly taking out top ratings, gooey forensic dramas playing out pretty much nightly on multiple channels, and movies continually pushing the boundaries of their classification with sordid details, the regular non-criminal population seems to eat this stuff up like there’s no tomorrow.

So what better exhibition for the Justice and Police Museum (Circular Quay) to put on than one entitled Sin City : Crime & Corruption in 20th Century Sydney?

With a gritty poster adorned with a shadowed lingerie-clad stripper and the promise of the most lurid photographs, biographies and dodgy objects that our seedy city produced over the last century. I’m in.

Covering all manner of scandal, sex and greed which occurred during the gangster-filled years between the 40s and the 80s, the exhibition tells a thousand filthy stories you don’t often hear from their place having been swept under the rug.

Particularly the Wednesday markets (… there’s also the Saturday morning variety), a time when most people are trudging through the middle of their working week without sparing much of a thought for good home-grown produce, delicious cakes and treats, fresh cheeses, olive oils and a huge range of lunchtime eats.

But really, what a great way to briefly escape the rat-race during your Wednesday lunch-hour…

A couple of times now we’ve bundled a bunch of people into a cab for a $7 ride over to the Entertainment Quarter to meet up with some of our other long-lost colleagues over some of the particularly tasty take-out from the Ethiopian stall up the back corner, sat out on the grass, taken in the sunshine and scoffed down forkfuls of the tasty potato-pancakey-lentily mix of steaming hot goodness.

The entire open grassed space there in the middle of the Entertainment Quarter (,the cricket-oval-sized area which normally sits idle there apart from when Cirque du Soleil is in town or the occasional drunken urinary stumble of a Belgian Beer Café patron after hours) is filled each week by a huge number of fruit, veg and flower growers, as well as many cake and bakery stalls, and all the meat, dairy and condiment vendors you’d expect at these sorts of things. All dishing out top quality local goods at a fair price.

So next time you’re considering getting a Subway and working through your Wednesday lunch at your city desk, seriously, get a couple of mates into a cab for a quick trip over to Moore Park, for nothing else but reclaiming an hour of your weekend smack bang in the middle of your week…

The schedule is pretty well packed full of the who’s who of the local Aussie scene, as well as a few solid international names, also with plenty of events featuring the upcoming talent from students and newcomers.

Featuring the latest Spring Summer collections from over 100 designers in 45 collection shows, the various stages around the Circular Quay area will be jam-packed between now and Friday.

If you haven’t already registered and are keen to check out some of the action, you can still pick up tickets to some of the events from the overseas passenger terminal (which won’t get you into everything now, but if you’re in the area and feel like checking something out on a whim, could still be worth the trouble).

Call me a cynic, but it feels as though these days if you release a film based on a comic book character and it does even “ok” at the box office, you’re going to be doing sequels. (Think “Daredevil”, “Elektra”, Extraordinary League of Gentlemen” for examples of those who didn’t make it back for more… though surprisingly, rumours are that “Ghost Rider” will be back despite the odds… *face-palm*…)

The thing with a comic book sequel is that rarely do things get better second time around, and the best a director should expect (once the studio has muscled around) is that the sequel could end up being “more of the same”.

(Yes, “The Dark Knight” is the notable exception, but please don’t talk about “Spider-Man 2″ or “X-men 2″ as superior sequels… not with you there on either count, despite their box office takings. I actually fell asleep during Spidey 2, primarily because of Kirsten Dunst’s hideous “romantic face”…)

Iron Man 2 definitely hits all the right marks as a potentially successful comic book sequel – pretty much text-book.

Of course, this isn’t a bad thing.

If you enjoyed the first film, you’ll most likely enjoy the second film. For me, it felt about 85% as engaging and/or good as the first one, losing its marks purely in terms of story. Seriously, it’s pretty hard to beat an origin story anyway, no matter how many new villains and problems you throw at a hero.

The robot action was spectacular, and the issues I had with the first film (i.e. the quite dull climax and final battle) were satisfied greatly in the sequel with a fairly intense battle sequence to finish off the film involving more nasty robots than you could count, and a great deal more collateral damage. The VFX were definitely on par with the first, and Robert Downey Jnr inhabits his title role so thoroughly I can hardly imagine anyone else ever touching the Tony Stark character again.

I won’t go into the details of the story here, but suffice to say, you pretty much figure it all out in (a) the trailer, or if you missed that (b) the opening title sequence. Something involving a dead Russian physicists grown-up criminal son embarking on a mission of revenge against Tony Stark and the industrial-military complex at large. Honestly, it’s not really important, which is a shame really – I could’ve used a surprise or a twist somewhere, but it never really came. (Side note : the trailer also gives away what could’ve been the coolest moment of the film, involving Iron Man’s temporary back-up suit. Damn those trailer-edit guys.)

The main thing which lacked for me (besides anything unpredictable, story-wise) were that there were quite a few new characters introduced who we felt like we were supposed to know by the end, but didn’t really get to know very well. Scarlet Johansson for instance… sure, she looked deliciously slinkly and pouty as usual, but we only really caught the briefest idea of who she was and what she was all about, despite her being a major supporting character in the film. Perhaps if I’d read the comics I’d know her back story, but for the average cinema-goer, I don’t think that’s good enough.

Same goes for our main characters – fitting in character-introduction time on screen left little time for much in the way of character development with the characters we got to know last time around, especially given they’d beefed up the action sequence time quite a bit whilst still keeping the film about the same length as the first (2 minutes shorter in fact).

Still, these types of issues are irrelevant when dealing with a film such as Iron Man 2.

You go watch these things to see cool billionaires flying around in their robot suits blowing bad guys up and saving the world, as loudly and CG-filled as possible, which is precisely what Iron Man 2 delivers.

Definitely a film to see on the big-screen, and hooray – they didn’t try to convert it to 3d-stereo, so you can enjoy it in the 2 D’s it was originally designed to be viewed in without those pesky glasses.

Ka-Boom.

Kilts?

Don’t get me started about the humble kilt. I’d wear mine all the time if it were something I could get away with at work without constant ridicule – and with full “traditional” under-attire of course! If you’re partial to the cool updraft yourself, then check out Scotland The Brave at the Opera House tomorrow night.

(Funnily enough I used to tour with that show a few years ago, and there was this one weekend where everyone wearing a kilt – including the digified silver-haired conductor, soloists, pipers and all – went traditional after much heckling from myself and a core group of rabblers. My only advice is to try to get the front row – it’s a very high stage from there and you may get more than your moneys worth.)

Ok, so bagpipes may not be your cup of tea, however just around the corner in the Studio, the Beer Diva : Journey Of Discovery could be more to your taste. I’m not entirely sure how this event works, but from what I can tell you get to drink a bunch of different types of beer while they are described, celebrated and elevated to high art through a combination of taste, music, animation, culture, philosophy and allegedly, also a good helping of chocolate. This show was made for you.

There’s another great new produce market thingy kicking off this weekend with the Sydney Sustainable Markets at Taylors Square tomorrow. This will be the first one for this bunch of organisers, so give them a good turn out, and in return take home a woven-environmentally-friendly-basket-load of organic/sustainable/good-karma local fruit, vegies, meats and goodies.

Of course all that music, beer, kilt and organic sausage is probably going to be too much for some folks more keen on head-thumping and robots blowing each other up…

The Sydney Swans vs Brisbane Lions game is on Saturday (6pm) at the SCG, and no doubt should be a pretty intense game given the home-town crowd eager for some fresh Queensland carnage.

Then there’s Iron Man 2, out yesterday, which I caught last night. There’s a review coming to these very pages early next week, but without spoiling it for anyone, if you were a fan of the first one, the sequel is totally worthy. Not “blows you out of the park, better than the first one”, but definitely “more of the same” class of sequel, which is perfectly ok with me. And if you’re a comic book fan, make sure you stay til after the credits for a cool little Marvel easter egg….

Suddenly we’ve gone almost directly from Summer to Winter without much of an in-between, and you know what? I like it.

The downside is that perhaps this sudden cold snap has left your cupboard in desperate need of that freshen up you were planning a few weeks from now, however there is a quick fix all the cool kids seem to be doing these days : American Apparel and their online store.

A couple of guys I work with have been receiving care packages from American Apparel this week, and I couldn’t help feel they were onto a good thing.

Checking out the store, there’s a tonne of decent looking long-sleeve T’s and sweat tops at good prices, but what gets me is the huge selection of very funky looking hoodies.

So many colours, so many styles, guys, girls, organics, whatever, you name it. Sure, the humble hoodie isn’t often classed as the height of fashion for all occasions, but their fleecy urban goodness is perfect for that outer layer to slop around the city during these suddenly brisk days and nights, and the A.A. range really does look cool.

Check out their range and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of cupboard-fillers, fast.

While you aren’t buying Australian-made at all (the name is a bit of a giveaway) you can rest assured that you’re not buying into a sweatshop situation either; American Apparels whole business model is based upon pretty much everything happening in their factory in downtown L.A., from dyeing of fabrics through to advertising materials. Good karma at a good price.

The Aussie store apparently ships from the local warehouses so you should end up with your purchase within a couple of days, also with free shipping if you spend enough!

She’s on tour at the moment celebrating the release of her fifth album Far, and despite initially selling out her first show, there’s one more night of piano-based bliss tonight (Wed 27th April) only.

For those not quite familiar with her work, no doubt she’s a voice you’ve heard and enjoyed on your periphery for quite some time, yet never matched a name to. Blending a (Russian) classical upbringing with her New York influenced Jazz/Pop flair, her trademark vocal style is easily identifiable within seconds, as well as the generally observational themes which run through a lot of her songs.

With the Opera House a perfect stage for her brand of concert – grand pianos, good acoustics and a decent drop of wine before the show – if you’ve got the time (and manage to land the last of these rare-as-hens-teeth tickets) then there is quite simply nothing better to do with your Wednesday night than catch her show!

Check out Regina in action to refresh your memory :

Apart from the lucky few who call it home, for the rest of us the laid-back vibe, the great pubs, tasty eats and chilled-out “no need to dress up in your best Bondi outfit” beach make it a pretty hard place to beat for a laid back day trip somewhere beachy.

Sure, the parking might suck, but surely the Ferry ride makes up for that, not to mention there being National Parks waiting for you at the other end of it?

One thing to try next time you’ve got the Manly urge is the Manly Bike Tours.

For a small fee, you get a guided tour of not only the entire town/beach area, but access to some of the most spectacular parts of the National Park (up around the heads) at the mercy of a local who really knows their stuff.

Running every day, there’s a few different routes to pick from, and generally each of them clocks in at about a couple of hours – plenty of time to get back and hit up Burger Me (… burgers so good I’ve driven to Manly specifically for them on numerous occasions. Burger-obsessed? Me?).

Designed to run at a fairly leisurely pace with plenty of stops for tour-guide chit-chat and light refreshments, this kind of thing really does seem like a pretty relaxed yet energizing way of giving your next trip across the harbour a little something extra.